


this grave is empty

by vexedcer



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Kinda, M/M, Wakes & Funerals, graves, this came out of no where i swear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-18
Updated: 2014-09-18
Packaged: 2018-02-17 22:07:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2324864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vexedcer/pseuds/vexedcer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky wonders where Steve will end up, his soul. He just hopes that wherever he does, whatever afterlife he is sent to, that when he kicks the bucket, Steve'll be waiting for him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	this grave is empty

**Author's Note:**

> The major character death is non-explicit for the most part. 
> 
> Unbeta'd because i literally word vomited this ten minutes ago, and probably littered with irish-isms im sorry
> 
> bye

_Here lies Cpt. Steven G. Rogers 1918 - 1945 the First Hero_ , the headstone says. The white marble is surrounded by wreaths of holly and winter roses.

Only really, Steve Rogers doesn't lie there. Steve Rogers lies sheathed in ice, stone cold frozen where he won't be discovered for another 70 odd years. Its Christmas in a week or so, and this grave lies empty.                               

 _Sgt. James "Bucky" Barnes 1917-1945_ , the one two steps to the left says. _Friend to all_.

Which, okay, you can say its true, he was a friend to everyone, could probably charm a nun out of her baggy non-sinning underwear if he tried. He was handsome and broad and strong. Could probably lift an elephant one handed. Or something.

But mostly this empty grave's desired occupant was best friends with the just as empty grave two-steps-to-the-left's absent form. And the first missing man always looked up to the second, even when he was a scrawny sonvabitch with a near constant black eye.

Their headstones are pretty accurate then. Cpt. Steven G. Rogers was Sgt. James "Bucky" Barnes' hero and Sgt. James "Bucky" Barnes' was all of Cpt. Steven G. Rogers friend.

And when Cpt. Steven G. Rogers - just for the sake of it, lets call him Steve - visits two graves on the right of his own vacant one, seven decades later, stares at the mirrored surnames with a burning intensity, like he was trying to carve away in the rock with laser eyes. That'd be pretty cool.

When Steve turns to leave, he glances at the stone that bears his friend's name. He purses his lips and resolutely does not cry. Or so he would have you believe.

When Sgt. James "Bucky" Barnes - Bucky for short, his full title takes too long - Bucky returns with a metal arm and a weeks worth of stubble, his whole body bruised and a couple of ribs broken, he looks at his own grave so searchingly, so curiously, anyone passing would think he was just "one of those history fanatics" - which translates to "fucking Captain America fanboys" - but really he's trying to gleam some hint as to who he is in this weather beaten stone.

There comes a time when the two men walk down the aisle, between the pillars and statues of stone, scanning for the name that follows Bucky’s own. They find two proclaiming that it is the resting place of Winifred and George, and a third that says Rebecca Proctor. Under it, in smaller block letters carved so carefully it states nee Barnes.

There are two more in another state that have nee Barnes added under marital names that he has not yet visited.

The two contemplate the eroding rocks for a short while before searching out more names that will burn into their eyes like painless brands.

Steve looks at the names Joseph and Sarah with a sad smile and even sadder eyes, remembering a time when he was a foot shorter and a third the weight and how the rip in his chest refused to close no matter how much he pleaded with the wound. Bucky remembers how he could almost see the way Steve was breaking, pieces flittering away like a flaky pastry.           

The two soldier’s eyes find their own names and stop to admire the flowers still growing around them. A caretaker must tend to the cemetery,  because they are not wild flowers or choking weeds.

"'S fuckin' weird," the Sergeant says before walking on, hands shoved deeply into the pockets of his coat.

And when Cpt. Steven G. Rogers passes on, three bullet holes in his chest and one between his kind blue eyes, courtesy of a lone HYDRA agent, he is buried there.

Well, not really. He supposedly rests there, under the flowers growing in the spring peak, and his televised funeral - "fuckin' televised, does no one understand the word 'private' anymore?" Bucky mumbles, wearing a uniform with a starched collar that looks prim and proper - shows the hearse leaving the Church that Steve has never been too towards the graveyard.

But Steve is really packed away in a sealed coffin on a small jet, waiting for the Avengers, including their newest closest allies; the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, and some of their closest friends; Phil Coulson, Maria Hill, and Sam Wilson (who is largely considered an Avenger in his own right), to come and steer him to the frozen depths of the Atlantic.

It seemed right that he be buried there, no one knows why, but it just does.  

Bucky watches the box bob in the freezing currents and thinks about the empty grave space beside his own.

Bucky wonders where Steve will end up, his soul. He just hopes that wherever he does, whatever afterlife he is sent to, that when he kicks the bucket, Steve'll be waiting for him.

**Author's Note:**

> I am currently writing a 10k piece (its been two months since i started it sigh) so that might be up soon?


End file.
